Luppo Kuillman

Chapter 6 134 confirmatory factor analysis. However, as addressed in all articles, the cross-sectional collection of the research data, however, was something that, retrospectively, could have been done differently. Primarily I collected data for validating the developed and adapted questionnaires and test theoretical hypotheses. However, with this one- time only collection of data there are limits to the results’ generalizability. After all, it remains to be tested to what extent the results of my studies will replicate in other respondent groups and other contexts. With regard to the cross-sectional nature of the data, I tackled some potential methodological omissions by employing the Harman’s single factor test to rule out common method bias (Podsakoff & Organ, 1986) and have I also excluded the presence of multicollinearity by addressing the Tolerance and Variance Inflation Factors (Dormann et al., 2013). Nevertheless, the cross-sectional nature of the studies makes it hard to draw conclusions about causality. I cannot rule that third factors might form an alternative explanation of some of the effects found. Therefore, longitudinal or experimental follow-up research is recommended. Although this doctoral work has been initiated from a rationalistic approach, there is still much to be done when it comes to research into ethical decision-making at the level of the less tangible processes such as intuition, affect, empathy, and many other implicit processes that underlie the continuous calibration of our moral compass. Although the aim of my doctoral research primarily concerned the psychometric testing of (adapted) questionnaires and instruments, one may argue that the research field of ethical decision-making is also open for phenomenological exploration. Supplementing with qualitative research forms, such as interviews, focus groups or observational studies would provide a broader conceptual view of the research domain. 6.4 Practical implications and future research Based on the main outcomes of the studies summarized in paragraph 6.2, it can be concluded that all performed studies brought new findings with inherently practical implications and/or future directions for subsequent research. In this paragraph, the practical implications of the main findings are summarised and brought into the perspective of what they could imply towards educations and/ or practice and future research.